


keep smiling

by heartcools (bluedreaming)



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas Fluff, Gen, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 13:52:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8982568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedreaming/pseuds/heartcools
Summary: What do you get as a present for someone when you only have one night and all the stores are closed? Not only that, but Myungsoo wants it to mean something, and not just because he feels bad for forgetting about the secret Santa exchange.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feminabeata](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feminabeata/gifts).



> To the recipient: I hope you like this!

 

 

 

 

"Urgh," Myungsoo groans, stretching his arms up over his head before falling forward onto the cafeteria table in front of him. His cheek lands in something suspiciously sticky and he doesn’t even care.

"Finished your last exam?" Sungyeol’s voice hovers from somewhere over his shoulder, but Myungsoo is too comfortable, half-sprawled out over the gritty table, to bother looking up. He agrees with a ripple of his shoulders, a kind of full body nod, before letting his muscles relax even further.

Maybe he can relax so much that he’ll be boneless and melt off the table into a puddle of sleepy Myungsoo-pancake on the ground. That sounds nice.

Sungyeol takes a sip of something, probably the coffee he’s been mainlining since classes ended and last-minute exam revisions descended with a vengeance.

"Well, I’ll see you in the common room later then," he says, footsteps fading away between the rows of tables and chairs. Myungsoo wrinkles his nose, and tries to remember what Sungyeol is talking about. When he opens his eyes, the room is slated sideways, the edge of the table a tilted horizon and he gets distracted by the way the lines of perspective fall, thinking about how he would frame the shot. Sungyeol’s parting words barely register.

 

 

 

 

Myungsoo is pinning a new print up on the wall with the miniature clothespins he has attached to strings around the room, when there’s a soft knock on the door.

"Yeah?" he calls over his shoulder, trying to line the photograph up at precisely the right degree of angle. He can’t remember if he had anything up tonight, but he doesn’t think so.

The door swings partially open, and Sunggyu pokes his head through the opening. "You coming?" he asks. The photograph firmly clipped in exactly the right position, Myungsoo steps back and nods at the display along the wall before turning back to Sunggyu.

Sunggyu might not have had exams like the rest of them, but looking at the line between his eyes, Myungsoo suspects that Sunggyu might sometimes rather have had a myriad of exams to sit if it would mean not having to worry about his thesis.

"Coming to what?" Myungsoo asks, mentally skimming through his schedule. Even his internal itinerary is wonky, what with exams worming their way into everything else, and his photography portfolio spilling over into any spare cracks.

Sunggyu’s expression is the tiniest bit disappointed and Myungsoo can’t help but wince, just a little. "The secret Santa," he says, gesturing to the hallway behind him.

"Oh, right," Myungsoo says, and nods, slapping a grin on his face. If Sunggyu doesn’t buy it, he doesn’t say anything at at least.

"See you in a bit," Sunggyu says, disappearing around the edge of the door as Myungsoo tries to figure out what he’s going to do. Now that he knows what it is he’s forgotten, he can kind of recall something about gifts, and a hat; drawing names.

"Dongwoo," he says, mouth absently speaking the name before his brain has had a chance to catch up.

 

 

 

 

No solutions in mind yet, Myungsoo heads for the common room and the sound of laughter. He's the last one, everyone already gathered around the artificial green Christmas tree, lights twinkling and—he swallows-—a small pile of presents stacked beneath the tree.

Howon passes him a mug of something that turns out to be hot cocoa, and Myungsoo takes too big of gulp in an effort to distract himself. He splutters, coughing, and Sungyeol laughs as he meets his eye.

Sunggyu shakes his head but his expression is far too fond to be anything but indulgent. "The secret Santa is officially tomorrow," he says, ignoring vague grumblings that seem more for show than anything else, "but I thought it might be fun to have some public guesses."

"You mean you just want an excuse to rattle your box around," Sungjong says from where he’s perched on the back of the sofa, eating a Christmas cookie. Sunggyu ignores him.

They take their turns going around in a circle, Myungsoo getting more and more anxious as time progresses. When it’s his turn, he barely gives his snowman paper-wrapped box a cursory shake before setting it back on the ground.

"I think I’d rather be totally surprised tomorrow," he says in explanation.

Howon’s the first to notice that there’s no gift box or tissue-paper stuffed bag waiting for Dongwoo. The collective realization is followed by an awkward and drawn-out pause; Myungsoo is about ready to stand up and admit to everything when Dongwoo sits back and grins around the circle.

"My secret Santa is probably just finishing things up, and didn’t want to rush," he says, and Myungsoo feels that much worse.

 

 

 

 

So of course the first thing that Myungsoo does when he gets back to his room is lie down on his bed, head hanging off the edge, and stare at everything upside down as the blood rushes to his head. He remembers, as a kid, that he’d read something about it increasing oxygen flow to the brain and helping you think better, but it only ever makes him dizzy. That never stops him though; just because this wasn’t the time it worked, doesn’t mean there won’t be a time when it might actually be useful.

After letting himself slide off the bed onto the carpet—wormlike, or at least, if worms have stressful gift-related situations that require desperate last minute fixes—Myungsoo goes to find Woohyun.

"You realizes that all the stores are closed," Woohyun says. Myungsoo nods, plopping down to sit on Woohyun’s comforter. It’s soft, and he wishes he could just wrap himself up in it, burrito-style, and let someone else worry about it.

He can’t though, because it’s Dongwoo of all people. Making Dongwoo sad is like kicking a puppy, telling your little brother that Santa doesn’t exist, and taking the toys out of Kinder Eggs before sneaking them back onto the shelf.

"You could always make something," Woohyun offers. "Dongwoo likes things like that."

Myungsoo makes a face. "But what?" he asks, staring at the ceiling.

"What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear his name?" Woohyun asks, and Myungsoo is just about to answer when it clicks.

"Thanks!" he says, thumping Woohyun on the back as he gets off the bed. Woohyun just laughs.

 

 

 

 

Photography isn’t just something that Myungsoo is majoring in in university. It’s a part of him, from the time he got his first disposable camera at the age of three, running in delight around the park and snapping blurry close-ups of flowers and off-centre landscape shots.

While he does use his phone for quick snapshots and some candids, there’s something extra special about using film, and he’s probably spent more money than is wise, just snapping away at things that catch his fancy. It’s going to come in handy today though. Sifting through the film negatives, Myungsoo pulls out the ones he wants and tucks them in an envelope before heading out the door.

"Where are you going?" Sungjong asks from where he’s still perched on the sofa, lollipop in hand, when Myungsoo pulls his coat off the hook by the door and shoves his feet into winter boots.

"I just forgot something at school," Myungsoo says, wrapping a scarf around his face before he braves the cold. Sungjong looks suspicious, but shrugs, sticking the lollipop back in his mouth.

 

 

 

 

They’re collected around the tree, much like last night, but instead of one gift too few there are now exactly the right number. Woohyun passes around eggnog in chunky cups, and Myungsoo doesn’t even need to taste it to smell the peppermint schnapps.

"Since Dongwoo didn’t have a chance to guess his present last night, I think he should go first," Howon says, which seems fair, so Dongwoo gets to reach forward and pull out the brown-paper-wrapped object, turning it over in his hands as he tries and fails to make a guess.

"Some kind of book?" Sungyeol suggests, but Dongwoo shakes his head.

"Not a reading book," he says, and removes the bow before peeling the paper back from the gift to reveal something that looks like a book, the words "Keep Smiling" written in gold ink across the cover.

The smile on Dongwoo’s face matches the photographs framed on the pages as he flips through them, candids of Dongwoo laughing with friends, playing with puppies, crouched down to speak eye to eye with a small child.

Myungsoo knows that half the point of the secret Santa thing is that it’s a secret, but the gift pretty much gives it away anyway—so when Dongwoo glances up from the last page to meet Myungsoo’s gaze, absolutely beaming, Myungsoo grins back.

Someone is mumbling about cheesy kids and there’s the sound of a hushed scuffle and someone getting elbowed in the ribs, but it’s all background noise.

"I love it," Dongwoo says. Flipping the cover shut, he turns it over, running his finger beneath the words on the cover.

"I’m glad," Myungsoo replies.

 

 

 

 


End file.
